New Teams

The NHL has landed in hockey hot spots such as Miami, Anaheim, Calif., and Dallas this season. Don't laugh. Jamaica has a bobsled team, doesn't it? ...

The Florida Panthers and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are the latest expansion teams. The Dallas Stars were the Minnesota North Stars of last season.

In all, the NHL has moved into six new cities in recent years. Only Ottawa, situated on the border of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, is a hockey town. The rest, including San Jose and Tampa Bay, are in U.S. markets where hockey is not an indigenous sport.

I think people can come indoors in warm weather or cold weather to watch hockey as easily as basketball, concerts, you name it."

If the league is to be taken seriously by the networks, it's going to have to expand to those areas in the coming years.

But it will be up to the newcomers to prove a game played on ice can survive in the Sun Belt. Can teams in those areas last beyond the initial curiosity of the locals? Or will they turn out to be fair-weather fans?

"I think sports fans in all of those cities will get turned on by the game and will get turned on by the players," Bettman said. "I think the longer we're in those places, the stronger we'll get.

"The expansion franchises in Anaheim and Florida are doing very well. Season ticket sales are strong, interest is strong. ... Anything that Disney [Anaheim owner] or Blockbuster [Florida owner] touches is generally guaranteed success. Both have tremendous ticket bases."

Bettman isn't paid to sound pessimistic. But it's true, Florida's base is a comfortable 8,500 and The Pond in Anaheim has sold 12,000 season tickets. Dallas hasn't warmed to the Stars so quickly. Season ticket sales are at about 7,500.

Expecting Florida and Anaheim to be competitive immediately might be asking a lot -- although, to their credit, the Panthers

and goalie John Vanbiesbrouck looked darned good against the Whalers in a 4-2 exhibition victory at the Civic Center Sept. 22.

Still, the only quality depth in the latest expansion draft was in goal. Consider that former Whaler Terry Yake [22 goals in 66 games last season] is the Ducks' top scoring center.

Bad hockey can only sell for so long. But despite the addition of five expansion teams in three years, Bettman isn't worried that talent is running thin.

"I don't think dilution is an issue," he said. "There's a lot of great hockey players out there and, over the last few years, while there have been five expansion teams granted, the fact is we've also had a big influx of European talent to, I think, more than compensate for the increase in the number of teams."

Canadians can dream on about future franchises in Hamilton or Saskatoon. Atlanta, Houston and Phoenix are more likely destinations for the NHL in the coming years. Don't be surprised if the Edmonton Oilers wind up in one of those places. It's a safe bet they won't be in Edmonton much longer the way negotiations are going on a new lease there.